Persistent ocean surveillance is a strategic need that is being actively pursued by the U.S. Navy. Hosting Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (“UUVs”) on U.S. Navy submarines in order to support long-term, independent Intelligence. Surveillance, Reconnaissance (“ISR”), Anti-Submarine Warfare (“ASW”) and Mine Counter-Measures (“MCM”) missions is viewed as an essential component of providing this capability. In this capacity. UUVs with the capability of extended operations are envisioned to support Special Forces operations in locations where their host platform is unable or unwilling to operate, to extend the sensors of the host platform into dangerous waters, or to collect information for the platform while that platform is being used for more appropriate applications. To realize this vision, the Navy needs a reliable means to remotely launch and recover multiple UUVs, and provide for sustained UUV operations via energy replenishment and data transfer.
While UUVs are currently being used in the aforementioned roles, current systems supporting UUV deployment are insufficient for long-term use of a UUV in underwater operations.
The present application is directed to novel charging and data transfer systems and methods for use in UUV applications.